They entered Joe Louis Arena earlier this week the hockey equivalent of dead men walking.
The Tampa Bay Lightning came into Detroit for Game 6 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series as the afterthought in the Tampa sports hierarchy. The Buccaneers would be drafting first on Thursday, so the above-the-fold focus of the Tampa papers was whether the franchise would use its first overall pick on Jameis Winston or not.
The Lightning? They blew it in Game 5 at home, so how much hope was there from that point?
There was enough, it turned out.
Before the Buccaneers took Winston, the Lightning took Games 6 and 7 against the Red Wings. Friday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the Lightning extended its playoff win streak to three with a 2-1 double-overtime victory in Game 1 of its Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Canadiens.
Including the regular season, Tampa Bay is now 6-0 against Les Habitants. Tampa Bay continues to win without anything under the "G" portion of the scoring sheet from Steven Stamkos, who is now goalless after e ...
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Article written by Adrian Dater